Private colleges everywhere are closely watching the numbers, to see just how the economy is impacting enrollment and enrollments nationwide are down. At Augustana College in Sioux Falls, the story's a little different.

Dan Johnson, an Augustana College senior, has been selected among 43 “NASA Student Ambassadors” nationwide. He will promote astronomy and NASA activities in 2009, the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s discoveries with the telescope.

Dr. Jeffrey Johnson, assistant professor of history at Augustana, is the author of “They Are All Red Out Here: Socialist Politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925,” published by University of Oklahoma Press.

A kinder, gentler Tom Shields emerges through his current abstract oil paintings. And a more daring ceramic artist Gerry Punt is revealed, his formerly symmetrical wheel-thrown works now pushed, pulled and distorted.